Med School admission fall by more than national average

Applications to medical schools nationwide have dropped for the third consecutive year, with Penn's Medical School experiencing an above average 11 percent decrease in the applicant pool between '98 and '99. A study, published this week by The Journal of the American Medical Association, showed a 6 percent decrease in the number of applicants nationwide in 1999 from the previous year. Overall, the number of applications has dropped by about 8,000 since 1996, with only 38,529 applicants in 1999. The percent of women in the 1999 national application pool was about 45 percent, a 2 percent decrease from the previous year. And the number of male applicants decreased by about 9 percent. Underrepresented minorities made up about 7 percent of the pool, an 11 percent drop from 1998. The Penn minority application numbers did not experience a decline in 1999, but have paralleled the overall declining trend in minority applications in other years, such as in 1997 and 1998. University of Pennsylvania Health System spokeswoman Rebecca Harmon said she did not believe that Penn's larger-than-average drop was a result of the Health System's recent highly publicized woes, including a $200 million deficit and three Medical School deans in nine months. Instead, she said, Penn's reputation continues to help draw applicants. "Students are looking for a quality medical education and that means access not only to the top-notch faculty, but also access to the most innovations," she explained, adding that Penn offers both of these. Some experts have suggested that some of the appeal of medicine has dropped because of the field's growing financial instability -- and that candidates are being lured by more lucrative opportunities. "The new finances are in the dot-com world," laughed Penn Chief of Infectious Diseases Harvey Friedman. Harmon agreed. "I think the dot-com world is a major competitor," she said, referring to the "almost instantaneous gratification" of the computer world compared to the years of training needed to become a doctor. Robert Sabalis, associate vice president for student programs at the Association of American Medical Colleges pointed out that despite the recent decline, the national applicant numbers today are much greater than they were over a decade ago. And Friedman maintained that the smaller size of the applicant pool does not mean that accepted students are less qualified than they were in past years. "I am not surprised that students are thoughtfully considering medicine as a career," said Gaye Sheffler, director of admissions and financial aid at the Medical School. "Today's applicants are passionate about medicine and up to the challenges that lie ahead." Penn's Medical School has been ranked No. 2 in terms of National Institutes of Health funding for the past two fiscal years. And U.S. News & World Report ranked the school third last March in its annual list of the top medical schools in the country

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